(S)he Walks: Gendered Audiences, Memory and Representation in Post-Yugoslav Space

Abstract

Based on ethnographic studies carried out during commemorations in Vukovar‎ and Srebrenica, this paper analyses gendered representations of said mnemonic‎ events. Specific practices that incorporate both military and civilian ‎components, as well as discourse on heroism and victimhood, lay at the focus ‎of this research: the Column of Remembrance in Vukovar and the Nezuk to ‎Potočari Peace March.‎ Following the theoretical findings on the nexus between memory and gender,‎ the main actors and their agency are studied from the gender perspective.‎ The symbolic capital of the two sites of memory and transformations of memorial‎ practices impact the representation of gender on both state and grassroots‎ levels and give an insight into the questions this paper asks:‎ Why are women present in such large numbers in both Vukovar and in‎ Srebrenica? How is gender represented in the course of these commemorations?‎What are the political implications of such choices? What kind of strategies‎ are used in official and grassroots initiatives? Finally, how is it connected‎ to gender?‎